Summary v. Analysis-O'Brien

In Ghost Soldiers, Tim O’Brien kept with his “flashback” style of writing to tell about getting wounded twice in Vietnam.  The first time was when Rat Kiley was medic and he took care of O’Brien with speedy competence and courage.  The second wound occurred when Kiley’s replacement, Bobby Jorgenson, had joined the unit.  By contrast, Jorgenson, as a new medic, “bungled the patch job” (O’Brien 190), which nearly cost O’Brien his life and certainly caused a lot more pain.  O’Brien was eventually transferred to a supply station, away from front line fighting.  He spent a lot of energy hating Jorgenson for his incompetence.  He also was taken aback to realized he “missed the real war out in the boonies” (O’Brien 192).  Eventually his former Alpha Company unit arrived for a couple weeks of rest.  O’Brien, while enjoying the reunion also realized he was “out of touch” with the unit and Jorgenson “was one of us now” (O’Brien, 197), as told to him by Sanders.  O’Brien, though receiving an apology from Jorgenson, had his mind set on revenge, Sanders was letting him know Jorgenson had proven himself and was a part of the unit, to leave him alone.  O’Brien enlisted Azar’s help to frighten Jorgenson, maybe hoping he would over react or disgrace himself somehow.  In the end, it was O’Brien who was shamed, and Azar, in total disgust, kicked him in the head.  Jorgenson, skillfully treated O’Brien and the hard feelings were set aside.

Vietnam War Memorial by William Yager

O’Brien portrayed another intriguing theme as this story unfolded; the communication between the soldiers was always “bottom line.”  All the conversations were at the least direct and in more extreme circumstance brutally raw.  There are examples throughout, like when Sander told O’Brien: “Negative” and “Man, you’re sick” (O’Brien 201), rather than trying to talk him out of action against Jorgenson.  Or again, when Azar was revolted by O’Brien and, though his cohort, told him “You’re a sorry, sorry case” (O’Brien 216), and much worse before kicking him in the head.  It was as if conversations were a reflection of their environment.  There was no compromise when there was a conflict.  One did not need to guess the politics of a situation; it was made clear and acted on.  It was as if the conversations were everything the politics of the day was not, relevant, clear and with a concise plan of action.  Maybe, conversation in any war or in any closed environment, are brutally direct.  Maybe, it was a relief to be able to “declare whose side you’re on” and act on it without doubt when the opportunity arose.

O'Brien, Tim. 1st. New York, NY: Houghton Miffin Harcourt, 1990. 189-218. Print.

An interesting tribute